Bubble-forming device



y 4, 1950 A. RASPET BUBBLE-FORMING DEVICE Filed on. 15, 1945 I N VEN TOR. HUGUST RASPET 4 Tromvsy Patented July 4, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE BUBBLEFFORMING DEVICE.

August Raspet; Locust Valley, Na Y5, assignor to Aviation Research and flevelopment Corporation, Waco, Tera, a corporation? of'Delaware; Application ctober'15, 1945,;seria1 No..622;308 I 2 Claims.

'I'hisinventionrelates in general to-a device fori'orming bubbles andin'particular to bubbleforming devices commonly referred to aswands, and includes correlated improvements designed to enhance the utility and increase the efiiciency of. such devices.

In my. prior" application Ser. No: 560,519, filed October 26, 1944, now'UJ S. Patent 2,433,625;- issued December 30, 1947, I have discloseda composition'for forming air borne freely floating bubbles .of large size" for use in aeronautic investigations of air currents, for display, advertising" and entertainment. When forming bubbles ofsuchma .composition, it customaryto dip into a liquid a wand comprising an elongated handleterminating ina circular member or ring. Heretofore, such wands have been made of a single piece of wire having a circular crosssection, the diameter of the wire being approximately /32 of :an, inch. When such a wand is dippedinto the bubble-forming composition, a filmis formed over the ring and when the wand isdrawn through the air, a multiplicity ofbubbles areproduced; It has been foundthat the-number of. bubbles which are. produced are .a-function of".the amount of'liquid held on .the,.,ring. It is desirable therefore to increase the total'volume of the liquid in order to increase the number of bubbles. When an attempt is made to accomplish this object by increasing the diameter of the wire, there is no substantial increase in the number of bubbles produced. As a matter of fact, when the diameter of the wire reaches one-quarter of an inch, there is actually a gradual decrease in the number of bubbles produced, the viscosity of the liquid and all other factors being kept constant. On the other hand, there is no substantial increase in bubbles as a result of diminishin the diameter of the wire.

Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a wand of the ring type which will have greater bubble-forming characteristics than wands heretofore known.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for simultaneously strengthening a bubhie-forming wand and increasing its bubbleforming characteristics.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

According to the present invention there is provided a wand having a handle and a bubbleforming ring thereon, said ring comprising, in cross-section, a multiplicity of strands of rigid material, said strands being so associated that capillary spaces are provided between them.

For-- a' morecomplete understandingof the nature and objectsofthe invention, reference should'fbe had to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is-a perspective view ofbneembodi mentoi "the wand: of 1 the present invention;

Figure 2" is across-section ofthe ring of the wand illustratedin'Fig; 1'; taken alongth'e line ii"2 thereofand showing "the -ri'ng' carrying but hie-forming liquid;

' Figured-is a'perspective-view of" a second" em:

bcdiinent ofthe presentwand; g

' Figured is a cross-sectioncf "the-bubble-fo-rm ing'yringof'Fig. 3; Figure 5is'" a third embodiment of the wand; Figure fi' isanotlier embodiment of the wandi It has nowbeen foundthat by forming at least the ringgsection of "the wand'of-a plurality ofjt'sm'all diameter elements "andproviding small capillary: spaces 'b'etweensaid elements, a verygreatly increased surface area-is provided. Ac cordinglyyjthe area of" contact of thebu-bble' forming" liquid-"with" thering elements is much greater than when a single wire or ring element is employed: In addition, liquid is-held-" in" the capillary spaces between the: elements.

Referringto'Figr l irrits'simplest embodirnenti the wand is formed of at least two wires II] and it which, for convenience, may be associated together by twisting and forming into a ring II. If desired, the handle portion 12 of the wand may also be formed of the twisted elements if increased rigidity of the handle is desired. On the other hand, the twisted elements may be confined to the ring portion as illustrated, for example, in Figure 3. When the wand shown in Fig. 1 is dipped in the bubble-forming liquid,

the wire elements l0 and ID are surrounded by a large spherical coating of liquid l3, as shown in Fig. 2. The total volume of the liquid held on the multiple expanded ring is greater than would be held upon a single strand of the diameter of the strand ill or upon a single strand having a surface area equal to the sum of the surface areas l0 and I0.

' In Fig. 3 there is shown a second embodiment of the bubble-forming ring in which the ring is formed of a multiplicity of small rigid strands Nib, these strands being loosely twisted together for purposes of rigidity and to provide a multiplicity of small capillary spaces therebetween. If desired, the handle as Well as the ring may be formed of said twisted multiple strands. However, in Fig. 3 there is illustrated one embodiment of the wand in which the handle is formed the multiple strands which comprise the ring be formed of the same material. Asa matter of fact, it is advantageous in some cases to have some of the strand elements formed of rigid,

non-fibrous strands, for example, Wires of metal, and have the other strands of the ring formed any of the rings shown in any of the other embodiments. Referring to Fig. 5', the handle is formed of a strand bent back upon itself to form an elongated loop I1.

In Fig. 6 there is shown another embodiment of the multistrand wand in which the ring is formed from a single filamentary strand [8 which is wound twice upon itself to form closely conforming rings l9 and I9 having small capillary spaces existing therebetween. The two ends of the wire may project from the rings I 9 to form a handle as shown. One or both of the ends may be bent backward to form an elongated loopll.

While reference has been made to forming the strands of metallic wire, it is to be understood 'that any other rigid material may be employed,

of other fibrous material, e. g. threads. The embodiment is illustrated in cross-section in Fig.

4 in whichthe bubble f orming ring comprises the thread has a substantial nap. Accordingly, g;

the nap fibres tendto increase the total surface area exposed to the liquid and'thus increase the volume of liquid carried by the niultistranded ring.

There is shown in Fig. 5 another embodiment in which the ring comprises a central rigid strand l0e formed,'for example, of a heavy metallic iron about which'a finer wire 16 is coiled. The finer gauged wire. is preferably coiled loosely, thus providinga multiplicity of small capillaries between the central wire We and the surrounding coil 16 as well as between the individual turns of the coil. As a result of the capillaries, a ring of the construction shown in Fig.

such as stifi filaments of synthetic resins and filaments of glass; also plastic coated threads may be employed as the stiff strands. Moreover, the strands need not be circular in cross-section but may have any cylindrical cross section, either square, triangular, elliptical, or the like.

, I claim: I

1. A bubble-forming wand" comprising a handle, a loop on one end of the handle, said loop comprising a plurality 'of wires twisted together, adjacent courses of said Wires contacting each other only' at spaced points leaving capillary paces therebetween.

2. A bubble forming wand as recited in claim 1 in which one of said wires twisted in a helix about the other wire.

AUGUST RASPET.

REFERENCES CITED The. following references are of recordin the flleof this patent:

- UNITED STATES PATENTS 

